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Elves
Elves Elves are a race (technically a different species, but referred to as a race) of Elfkin hominid who are generally physically weaker but mentally stronger than Humans. They are the only hominid - besides other Humans - that Humans can have children with, and the products of such relationships are referred to as Half-Elves (regardless of how much Elvish ancestry the child actually has). Male Half-Elves nearly always have fertility problems, with many being totally infertile, whereas female Half-Elves have no such problem. Elves can have children with Black Elves, but these are always infertile. Elves are characterised by their light olive skin, fast-growing hair, long pointed ears, tall height, slanted eyes and naturally slender build. They have vibrant, lightly-coloured eyes and a wide variety of hair colours - they also have some hair colours unique to their species which on others would only be possible with dyes, such as pale pink and bright amber. Female Elves are well-known for being very beautiful, and male Elves are well-known for looking feminine, for which they are often mocked by other hominids. Male Elves often feel that they have a need to overtly display their masculinity to non-Elves in order to dispel the idea that they are feminine, which makes them seem obnoxious to many non-Elves. There are two main races of Elves, being the High Elves (which also encompasses the Avamorian Elves) and the Eshérian Elves. High Elves are as described above, and typically possess defined jawlines and pronounced noses. Avamorians deviate slightly in that they typically have slightly lighter skin, a less pronounced eye slant and typically have more "normal" hair and eye colours. Hermaphroditism is common amongst Elves, with 15% of the population affected by the condition. The overwhelming majority of hermaphroditic Elves are predominantly female (i.e. a female with a penis), with predominantly male hermaphrodites making up less than 1% of the hermaphroditic population. The percentage of hermaphroditic Elves has also been growing over time for an unknown reason, which has the Elvish population generally distraught. In nearly all cases, both sets of genitalia will be fully functional. Hermaphroditic Elves are generally looked down upon, as despite a tolerance campaign in the 1700s they are still associated with the mad, brutal Dark Elves and hated Vampires, and it cannot be denied that hermaphroditic Elves are statistically more likely to be rapists. Elves are generally much more intelligent than Humans, with Humans in the Nesarian Empire having an average IQ of 100 whereas Avamorian Elves have an average IQ of 122 and High Elves have an average IQ of 129. Elves also feel emotions more strongly than Humans, which means they often have to place restrictions on themselves to avoid their rational mind being overpowered. Elves, particularly High Elves, who fully give into their passions have a tendency to become insane. Elves are generally weaker than Humans, with a naturally slimmer build, slower muscle growth and less dense muscles. Despite their lack of strength, they do possess stamina marginally better than Humans, and they are more agile and flexible. Elves are also taller, with the average male Elf being 6' 1" (compared to the average male Human height of 5' 10") and the average female Elf being 5' 8.5" (compared to the average female Human height of 5' 4.5"). Elves have a significantly longer lifespan than Humans - whereas Humans in the Nesarian Empire life for an average of 80 years, Elves have an average lifespan of 120 years, reaching physical maturity at age 25. They also visibly age much more slowly after reaching maturity, growing few wrinkles, although their muscles and bones do deteriorate. The gestation period of their children is also longer, with fetuses staying in the womb for 12 months. Elves previously had the ability to wield magic, although they no longer possess this ability. Their "passive magic" allowed them to counteract their naturally weaker build and gain strength equivalent to (or above) Humans. Magic also allowed them to live as long as 200 years and practically not age at all after reaching maturity. Elves are physically similar enough to Humans that relationships between the two are fairly common (although High Elves in Elavita are forbidden by law from having relationships with people other than High Elves). Name The name of the Elves differs greatly between languages, and at various points throughout history they have called themselves by different names. In both High Elvish and Avamorian, the Elves call themselves the Elfade (singular Elfa). In Nesarian, they are known as Elvate (singular Elva). Both of these derive from the Old Elvic word Alfáta (singular Alfá). The English terms "Elf" and "Elves" derives from the High Elvish and Nesarian names. The Black Elves call the Elves Yanau (singular Yan), and from the little that survives of the Dark Elvish language it is known that they called the Elves Iaavu (singular Iaava). It is therefore likely that the Old Elvic word was originally Ialfáta (singular Ialfá) but the "i" was dropped over time. There is not enough information to be able to reconstruct the Proto-Elvic word for Elf. The distantly related Divenic and Avamoric languages most likely had their own words for Elves, but these were supplanted by the High Elvish terms with the Elvish colonisation of Avamoria. Since this took place before the vowel shift from "a" to "e" was fully complete in the High Elvish dialect of Old Elvic, Elves are known as Alvi (singular Alv) in Divenic and Alfdi (singular Alf) in Avamoric. In most of Europe, the Elves are known as the Eldar (or some variation on this name), due to the ancient pagan myths of fair-skinned forest-dwellers with powerful magic who went by the same name. It is likely that the Germanic myth of the Eldar was inspired by contact with Elves or related Elfkin, but there is no evidence of any Elfkin ever living outside of what now constitutes the Nesarian Empire.